February 2018

Happy Valentine's Day

If experience matters to you, NOW is the time to join Team NALAC.

NALAC is recruiting three cultural attaches with a desire to change the world. Are you deeply versed in Latinx arts and cultures? Do you have a passion for telling a good story? Are you a counterintuitive thinker? Are you a fearless strategist with a heart of gold? Are you creatively prolific? Is your boundless optimism contagious?

If you answered yes to any combination of these, we have one question for you “Will you be our Valentine?”

THE LATEST

Leadership Deadline this Thursday

Picture this! It's July 2018. You're building with 29 other artists and cultural workers from across the country. Together you're learning about leadership, governance, development, management, fundraising and more during the week-long NALAC Leadership Institute.

Take Action: Arts Advocacy

The White House's FY2019 Budget again calls for the elimination of agencies that provide critical services and support to our nation's citizens, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Take action and learn more on our site.

Meet the Newest Grantees

NALAC recently announced the 28 artists and 12 organizations receiving financial support from the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), the only national grant program supporting Latinx artists and organizations in all creative disciplines.

“Our newest NALAC Fund for the Arts grantees represent the possibilities of a more equitable future for Latinx people in the United States," said NALAC President & CEO María López de León. Read the press release and download a PDF booklet featuring all of the awardees.

Talking Latinx Arts on the Radio

Earlier this month Mari Hernandez (NFA '16 & NLI '14) of Blue Star Contemporary,Cristina Ballí (NLI '04) of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, and our Director of Programs Gabriel Magraner stopped by Texas Public Radiofor a conversation on "The Source" about Latinx arts and representation in San Antonio. Listen to the show online.

Nalaquerxs on the Move

F. Javier Torres (NLI '09)was named the Program Director of the Thriving Cultures program at the Surdna Foundation. Torres is a former NALAC Board Member.

Former NALAC Board Member Tatiana Hernandez has joined the Kresge Foundation as senior program officer with the foundation’s Arts & Culture Program.

Field News

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is planning a March 3 demonstration responding to the lack of Latino representation in on-camera and behind-the-scenes roles in motion pictures. Latinos held only 3.1 percent of all movie speaking roles from 2007-2016. NALAC is a NHMC member.

Poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander has been named the next President of the Mellon Foundation. In the press release she states, “I have lived my entire life with art, culture, and scholarship as companion, guide, and discipline.

Artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wileyunveiled their portraits of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama during a ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

WHAT WE'RE READING

A recent study "Arts & The New Administration" by Vogl Consulting surveyed 1,100 artists and cultural workers about the top issues facing the arts under the Trump administration. Download the short report here.

Amelia Duran is interviewed about Garage Cultural's work addressing gentrification in Southwest Detroit. "We’re rooted in this geographic space. We’re emotionally tied to it. We have to do this work; if we want to stay here for generations to come, we don’t have any other option.” Garage is a NALAC and ArtPlace America grantee.

IN MEMORIAM

In addition to our wonderful volunteers and donors, NALAC's work is supported by the Surdna Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, San Antonio Area Foundation and the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture.

Southwest® is the official airline of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures.

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation's premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. In this capacity, NALAC stimulates and facilitates intergenerational dialogues among disciplines, languages, and traditional and contemporary expressions.